Today Nur-Sultan hosts the International Conference “The Cooperation of Central Asia in the new Geopolitical Environment: Challenges and Opportunities” organized by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan with the support of the Representative Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Kazakhstan.
The agenda of the conference is devoted to the topical issues of further development of cooperation between the countries, including the identification of effective points of contact in the development of trade and transport communications, food security, as well as elaboration of a common approach to the global challenges.
Thus, Y. Tukumov, Director of KazISS under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, noted the need to strengthen cooperation of Central Asian countries on specific issues.
“Over 30 years of independence between our countries the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect was formed, which is based on the willingness to solve common problems together and find new ways to partnership.
Geopolitical and geo-economic challenges are of paramount relevance for the Central Asian countries. The threats and challenges of international terrorism and issues of migration and food security are of immediate importance”.
Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies of the Kyrgyz Republic, R. Asizbaev in his speech emphasized the importance of Central Asian cooperation in addressing immediate threats:
“Today, the issue of ensuring their own security is becoming the number one issue on the general agenda of the Central Asian countries. Also, food security issues are very important for all Central Asian countries, and we can solve them only by joint efforts. In addition, the countries of Central Asia are facing a very acute problem of diversification of transit routes. At the same time, a particular threat is the possible introduction of secondary sanctions against the CA countries, which could lead to an economic crisis”.
Director of the International Institute for Central Asia A. Nasirov highlighted the relevance of expanding the scope of cooperation:
“It is extremely important to promote new areas of cooperation, especially in view of the accelerated digitalization of the economy and the priority of “green growth”. It is necessary to pay attention to the development of transport and communication interconnectivity.
We are all experiencing difficulties due to the lack of direct access to the world’s oceans. That is why it is extremely important to remove barriers and provide benefits and preferences on a reciprocal basis”.
Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan B. Usmanov also focused on expanding economic cooperation:
“Using the competitive advantages of our economies and their complementarity, it is also necessary to comprehensively develop industrial cooperation projects, which are a driver of economic growth.
To this end, we propose to continue the practice of developing international and regional trade, logistics and industrial projects”.
